When you wash fruits and vegetables, do you just rinse them under the tap or do you use soap?

Question

My wife and I are having this "discussion". She says it's fine just to rinse them off under the running water for a few seconds, but I think you have to use a bit of soap to get the chemical residue off (bug spray etc). What do you all think? (And yes I know there are fancy organic rinses for this type of thing, but let's just stick to the soap or no soap question).
Oh, one last thing, she says that dish detergent leaves an even more poison residue than pesticide. I doubt that, since it's what we use to wash our dishes with, and I rinse the fruits and vegetables after washing anyway. If you have any comments about this, I'd love to hear them.

Answer 1

Never with soap.
You can get the special liquid for washing fruits & vegetables from the supermart. If not, then just water.

Answer 2

Hmm, tough call. Hard skinned fruits like apples, are OK to use soap on, but softer skinned fruits like peaches,grapes, and plums should only be rinsed. Just to be on the safe side, you should always rinse your fruits & veggies with the water up full blast, and as hot as you can tolerate it, this will effectively rid your food of harmful bugs and chemicals. Most pesticides used today are water-based, so the disapate quickly.( Which is why they don't spray after it rains)

Answer 3

I just rinse.

When you are washing fruits & veggies, you are mainly removing the dust & soil they acquire through handling & packaging. If there are trace amounts of chemicals/pesticides, they will be removed by rinsing under water( most are water soluble). Dish soap is not FDA approved for use on fruits and vegetables (or for human consumption); fruits & veggies are porous and will absorb the detergent residues. Generally your dishes are not porous, so they wont absorb the detergent.

Answer 4

You just rinse.


You just trying to get off surface sprays on the vegatables to a minor degree as most vegetables are washed before going to sale. The real reason for rinsing is due to human handling in the shops, which is perfectly able to be rinsed off with plain water.


Don't add more things to clean it off.

Answer 5

I've gone both ways. Sometimes it is hard to completely rinse off the dish soap. If I do just rinse, I kind of 'scrub' it with my hands while rinsing to get more of the chemicals and germs off.

Answer 6

You both have valid points, but you must consider the produce. For rind items, like citrus fruits or melons, water is fine. For lettuce, water is the best option. However, for items frequently waxed to bolster appeal, like some apples and cucumbers or some tree fruits, a simple mixture of baking soda and water will dissolve the unwanted additives and not taint the flavor of food once thoroughly rinsed, and not introduce any unwanted chemical additives.

Answer 7

Just rub with bare hands under tap water. The skin of many fruits is porous and/or fibrous and will absorb the fragrance and surfactants of the soap. Soap will outright taint citrus since the flavor is in the oils and soap breaks up those molecules. Water good. Soap bad.

Answer 8

the difference is that your dishes don't absorb the chemicals. fruits and veggies are more absorbent.

also, because of that very fact, you may as well just rinse off the fruits and veggies because it's still going to already have some of the toxins in them already.

or you can do like i do and grow your own without any of that crap and not have to worry about it. :) with homegrown i definitely don't clean them anymore than necessary to get the dirt off them because i want them WITH the bacteria and such. not only for health benefits but also for fermenting benefits. otherwise how would we get real sauerkraut or kimchi?

Answer 9

I tend to agree with your wife--the dish detergent is full of chemicals. I would suggest using a brush to wash the vegetables and fruits. I use water only but I scrub.

Answer 10

no it's definitely fine to just use water, especially if you are going to cut of the peel. i think it's just a guy thing that you say that, because both my mom and grandma are very good cooks and cook for parties and stuff, and they taught me all I know, and they only rinse it with water. Believe me, if it was fatal to not use soap, I would be dead by now.